As a sales manager, you have a million plates spinning. That chaos provides the adrenaline rush you need to be productive, but it can prevent you from investing in the most important aspect of your job: the long-term growth of your team.

Without a strong team, you'll struggle to meet and exceed revenue goals. That means more uncomfortable meetings about missed sales numbers, both with your team and your leaders.

The key to building a high-performing team while still hitting regular numbers is to focus on the three Ts: talent, training, and tactics. Alone, each of these areas can boost sales; together, they form the core of a team that consistently hits targets and drives revenue.

Here, we’ll examine each of the three Ts and outline why they’re important, what they’re made of, and how to make the most of them:

1. Talent

Not all salespeople are created equally — their talent, that is. Not everyone is born a sales superstar, and part of that has to do with the tasks you're hiring him or her for. Does the task fit what he or she does best?

Think of the situation in terms of athletes: A football player can be just as talented as a baseball player, but if you’re building a baseball team, it's a baseball player that you need. Make sure when choosing talent that you're attracting the type that's right for what your brand is uniquely trying to pull off.

And according to Harvard Business Review, "The first step in smart hiring and productivity is understanding the relevant sales tasks in your market and strategy and then reflecting those tasks in hiring criteria and a disciplined hiring process."

Revisit your interview strategy to identify which decisions lead to better hires. Don’t stick to descriptive talent interview processes; insist on a valid talent interview built on predictive models. What space in your company lacks strong salespeople? What do you look for in a high performer, relative to your needs?

Sales training should not end at the sign-in sheet during orientation. Use the metrics you collect throughout the year to provide individualized feedback, and design training around that.

Getting to know associates (in essence, learning what makes them tick) can aid in your training and personalized managerial style. All new hires are equipped with their own set of skills and personality, which means they'll require different types of coaching.

Another successful training measure is pairing a new employee with a mentor. This person would ideally show your new associate the ropes and provide sage advice only a veteran at your company would have.

Beyond that, set expectations of your new sales employees — make sure they're solely focused on one prime activity for their first quarter at the company. Highlight a set number of prospects, appointments, and analyses needed, too.

Also, analyze your reports to identify the biggest hurdles for individuals and your team at large. Where are sales stalling? What sales tactics could be more successful? Investing in a sales diagnostic program to identify these pain points is necessary to truly drive sales performance. Analyze your data by using programs like ToutApp or Groove to make it a little easier.

Other training methods to consider are investing in an e-training program (one that will get the whole sales team on the same page if everyone completes it); install a buddy system so newbies can shadow the sales veterans; and brush up on helpful content pertaining to your pain points.

And remember: Motivational "in the trenches" speeches only go so far. Don’t leave your team members amped to improve with no path to follow; be quick to give specific feedback so they can learn in the moment. Keep the feedback positive — not even the best salespeople can keep a positive attitude in the face of constant criticism.

3. Tactics

Your salespeople operate within the confines of your tactics. If you have talented, well-trained people but don’t position them to succeed, your numbers will not reflect their abilities.

Don’t train for one thing while measuring something else. For example, if you spend a week coaching your salespeople to uncover client needs and grade them based on deals closed that month, you won’t know whether your training affected their results. Instead, in this scenario, grade them based on how many discovery meetings they held with clients, and discuss the results of those meetings together.

Also, consider your strategy: This is all you do prior to engaging a client — your “durable methods of winning.” This includes values as well as selection (and retention) of your staff, activities, lead generation, planning, and more. The bottom line: An agile sales team remains disciplined, which means its tactics support its strategy.

Be sure to keep your tactics consistent so your team members can build upon their existing work. You want all tactics to reflect your overall sales strategy; make sure your team is aware of this.

Empower your team by implementing and reviewing tactical decisions at regular intervals. Every year, schedule time to meet with the team off-site for a few days of analysis and planning. Every quarter, spend a day off-site — or at least in a private room together — to compare goals to execution. When your team fails to meet goals, adjust and revisit them next quarter.

Your team has the potential; it’s up to you to unlock it. Use the three Ts to guide your management strategy and increase performance across the board.

Matt Sunshine is a managing partner for The Center for Sales Strategy and LeadG2, a company that specializes in improving sales performance and lead generation. Previously, Matt also worked as the center’s executive vice president and a senior consultant. Matt has more than 20 years of experience in sales and media relations.

The old saying “Time is money” is never truer than for a salesperson. Any time you spend out of contact with your prospects — or being inefficient with your contact — is money lost from your goals. For a sales team to continuously grow its goals, every member of the team must become better, smarter, and faster each and every month.

This is no easy feat. HubSpot found in its 2017 State of Inbound report that 38 percent of salespeople find it increasingly difficult to get responses from their prospects. The only way to continuously evolve communication techniques at scale? Leveraging technology that can keep up with your prospects’ changing habits.

Prepping Your Plan of Attack

It’s 2018, so there’s a technology solution for everything: coaching your sales call, sending your favorite book to a prospect, or even having a hologram of Tupac give your elevator pitch. Given how quickly tech is evolving, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for every sales team. Before you do anything else, you need to figure out your cost of acquisition across all your sources.

Once you’ve determined your customer acquisition cost (CAC), you can start deciding what you really need. Think about your channels of communicating with prospects: Do you rely mostly on cold calling? Are targeted social ads a major source of leads?

As our company, Sapper Consulting, grew, we relied almost exclusively on our own process for generating leads. But after a few years of relying on the same methods, we decided to test some alternative tactics. For example, we found that by layering cold emails with targeted ads, we could generate a better lead that closed in less time, therefore lowering our CAC. The key is to track your CAC across your sources, then test small changes to maximize your results.

If your company is barely 6 months old, your focus is on acquiring clients. You don’t need a top-tier tech setup that requires a full marketing and sales department to stay on top of it. But what if your company is 10 years old and you’re trying to outrun a new competitor? You need to invest in a software solution or a tech partner that can find the right way to keep your leads close and your qualified leads even closer.

With your needs identified and your CAC determined, your sales team is ready to find the technology that’s right for you — and soon, you’ll be nearly unstoppable. Still feeling stuck? Here are three tips for finding tech solutions to ensure your prospects always take your calls.

1. Leave a trail of breadcrumbs.

Create a repository for all of your campaigns, lead sources, and CAC tests. This might be in the form of a customer relationship management system, but it doesn’t have to be. The market is filled with specialized sales and marketing tools that act as more than a prospect warehouse. Don’t settle for a CRM because it’s the safe option, and don’t waste time searching for the “perfect” CRM — you need that time for prospecting.

Software that focuses more on project management, such as ConnectWise, often still have CRM-style suites built in that keep track of contacts in connection with specific projects, which might be more useful than a basic Salesforce-style CRM. Find something that works for your current team and goals.

2. Invest wisely.

Spend money only on tools that automate your outreach efforts. Eliminate copying and pasting from your email process; use a tool that automates your sends. Spreadsheets shouldn’t help facilitate your cold calls; use a tool that keys up prospect information and times your approach. The perfect tool depends on your predetermined needs, but whatever those needs are, invest in tools that automate tasks and save you time.

More than 40 percent of salespeople surveyed report that prospecting is the hardest part of their process, outpacing closing at 36 percent and qualifying at 22 percent. But with the right tool, email prospecting can become less stressful, as tech can help you make the right amount of contact with the ideal time between outreach attempts. It can also help you prepare different outreach templates for various steps of your sales cycle.

3. Research time-saving tactics.

The right technology will cut down the time your team spends on basic tasks, giving you more time to spend actually connecting with prospects. Start by using a mini-tool that automatically creates contacts and sends follow-ups. Use calendar-sharing tools that eliminate time wasted scheduling meetings. Find prospect biography tools that can inform your team about each of your prospects without having to stalk each one on LinkedIn.

Finding this type of small, inexpensive tool that saves you time adds up; gradually, your toolbox will be built up and your sales team will become faster and faster. But be wary of tools that are time wasters in disguise: No tool you rely on should be increasing your CAC. Tiers of outsourcing are available, so find the tier that suits your needs.

As the sales world changes, salespeople need to keep up. Staying in touch with prospects is the key to closing a sale, and finding the right technology can ensure that you’re maintaining contact. Follow these tips to find the tech your team needs.

TJ Macke is the VP of Client Services at Sapper Consulting, which replaces cold calling for its clients. It’s cooler than it sounds. You can also follow him on Twitter @tj_macke.

In football, each result can either be celebrated (or not) for a very short time. If you win the game, you get about a day to enjoy the victory, and then it’s on to the next game where you need to win and prove yourself all over again.

Same in sales. Each month you shoot for a victory (making your numbers), and, if you hit them – great….for about a day. Because suddenly it’s a new month, and you have a new quota. What you did last month (or last game, if it’s football), doesn’t matter this month (or this week).

You may have been the top producer last month, a hero, but now you’re at zero again.

Years ago when I was struggling, this used to wear me out. Each month I’d barely do enough to keep my job – like a team going 8-8 – and then I’d be at zero again and have to climb back up the hill.

What happened for me – and what I wish for everyone that I work with – is that I made a commitment one day to get out of this constant struggle and learn how to perform like the top producers in my company.

Each month, the same three reps would win all the awards for being the top producers, and each time the new month would begin, they would already have deals on the board. Everyone in the company expected them to win, and win they did.

Kind of like the New England Patriots…

So if you are sick and tired of acting like Sisyphus (look it up if you don’t remember your Greek mythology), then make a commitment this year to do the things that other top producers do.

And that is really what it starts with: A commitment. The question you have to ask yourself this January is: Are you ready to do what it takes to finally change your career and your life?

I love what Bear Bryant (football coach) once said: “It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.”

If you are willing to do the prep work it takes to succeed, then you can change your career.

If you’re not sure what (“prep work”) means, then pick up a copy of my book: Power Phone Scripts. In it, I list the “Ten Characteristics of Top Sales Performers.” Read that first section and commit to doing that work.

If you do, then soon you’ll find the fastest way to go from Zero back to Hero again – month after month!

And wouldn’t that make your 2018 better?

Mike has been voted one of the most Influential Inside Sales Professionals for the past seven years by The American Association of Inside Sales Professionals, and won the 2017 Service Provider Award for training and development from the AA-ISP. Mike is hired by business owners to implement proven sales processes that help them immediately scale and grow Multi-Million Dollar Inside Sales Teams. For more information, you can visit his website: www.MrInsideSales.com

By Richard F. Libin, President, Automotive Profit Builders and author of just released book “Who Knew?”APB.cc, rlibin@apb.cc

We live and breathe technology, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We are always on. In fact, there is a diagram circulating on social media showing a dinner table place setting with a designated space for a mobile device. While meant to be humorous, it is reality more often than not. With billions of bytes of data at our fingertips, do customers really need salespeople or are they obsolete?

The answer is yes, but the role of the salesperson has changed. Traditionally, salespeople have always done two things for their customers: communicate information and sell. They believed (and some still do) that if you didn’t get the immediate sale, you would never get it. Today, these two basic functions no longer provide adequate value.

If you are a salesperson who focuses on selling as hard and fast as possible, with a goal of doing business now, then yes, you may be obsolete. As a salesperson, if you believe these two functions make up your job description, then it is time to ask yourself if you have the ability to change.

Today, a salesperson’s job profile can be defined by three simple functions:

Salespeople are responsible for helping customers find and select the right product or service. To do so, they must...

Be 100% present and work with a single-minded focus for each customer. The formula for success is simple. When you give 100% attitude, effort and performance in a positive manner, you will get the desired results. If you put your best foot forward you have a better chance of getting what may have been one or two missed opportunities.

Ask probing questions to develop an understanding of each customer’s unique wants, needs, and desires. It’s not about what you think; it’s about what the customer thinks.

Listen, learn, and empathize with the customers. Understand problems from their point-of-view and discover small details in order to successfully guide the selection process and find an exact fit.

Help the customers “try it on.” Throughout the introduction and including a demonstration of the product, if applicable, the salesperson should guide customers as they experience the features that will satisfy their needs, wants, and desires. The salesperson should help customers build an emotional bond and fall in love with their product or service.

Introduce customers to the rest of the “family,” giving them a tour of the business or store, introducing them to everyone, not just the managers, and explaining that they are there to provide for their total needs. Begin to convert customers to long-term clients.

Help the customer “fall in love with his choice.” When this happens, price becomes a secondary concern. Financial discussions and negotiations should be the last thing brought up and take the least amount of time in the entire transaction.

For example, in the past, if the customer spends an hour with the salesperson, 10 minutes is spent on selection and 50 minutes on negotiating price. Today, this is a sure-fire formula for disaster. Instead, the salesperson should spend 50 minutes of the hour helping the customer select the right product or service and 10 minutes on price. This approach brings the customer greater satisfaction at the time of the purchase. It delights the customer who will rave about his experience, refer his friends and colleagues, and ultimately become a loyal client. We are not saying that price is not important; however, if a salesperson succeeds in helping a customer find the right selection, then price won’t be a barrier to the sale.

Convert customers to clients. The salesperson’s job does not stop at the close of the sale, yet most customers never get a call once they leave a store. That call is actually the beginning of a long-term relationship. Why don’t salespeople call? For most, it is fear of rejection or not knowing what to say or how to say it. Follow up calls are essential and can be successful if the following steps are used.

Have a purpose. Understand the outcome you want from the call. Do you want a referral or additional sales, or to cement a relationship with the client?

Know what you want say and plan the gist of the conversation. Write it out.

Be prepared for the customer to lead you down another path. Know how to bridge back to your original plan.

Make the follow-up a continuation of the positive purchasing experience. Start a conversation that gets customers excited about their purchase all over again. This may lead to a referral for a friend who might be looking to do business with you.

So how do you start learning to sell all over again in our information-rich world? Start with this essential first step. Every day when you get out of bed, and several times during the day, say to yourself, “My job is not to sell, but to help my customers find the exact product or service that meets their needs, and in doing so, to make sure their experience is positive.” Adopt the right attitude every single day. Make this your mantra; say it, repeat it, and believe it. Only when you embrace this idea, can you continue your journey of continuous learning that is required to face a world of continuous change in the new world of sales.

Richard F. Libin has written two acclaimed books that help people of all walks of life improve their sales skills, because as he says, “Everyone is a selling something.” His most recent book, Who Knew?, and his first book, “Who Stopped the Sale?” (www.whostoppedthesale.com), is now in its second edition. As president of APB-Automotive Profit Builders, Inc., a firm with more than 49 years experience working with both sales and service professionals, he helps his clientele, through personnel development and technology, to build customer satisfaction and maximize gross profits in their businesses. Mr. Libin can be reached at rlibin@apb.cc or 508-626-9200 or www.apb.cc.

I get it: You’re sick of reading articles about Millennials. How to retain them, engage them, hire them ... the list goes on. Aren’t we all? And the answer to all those questions is so obvious. Three words: Peruvian pour-over coffees.

Boom! Problem solved. Now you can change the subject of your next LinkedIn Pulse piece to something that really matters, like what Netflix’s “Ozark” can teach us about business.

Speaking of business, let’s get back to it. Admittedly, this is an article dedicated to helping you do something related to Millennials — in this case, how to sell to Millennial CEOs. Is this a gross oversimplification? Possibly. Am I making generalizations about a group of incredibly diverse people? Yes. Isn’t this just like all the other horrible Millennial advice articles out there? Probably not.

This article is about sales and sales tactics. Therefore, if you and your team adopt the recommendations I’ve listed below, you’ll likely be able to measure the impact pretty quickly. And given the new technology available to coach sales teams and tie certain words and themes to results — such as Chorus.ai — it’ll be easy to tell early on whether I’m just talking to hear myself talk or actually offering decent advice.

Now, on to the strategies. Here are three things to keep in mind when selling to Millennial CEOs:

1. They are constantly thinking about things “at scale.”

Millennial CEOs, by and large, are looking for a very specific quantitative objective — think revenue, monthly average users, or monthly unique visitors — to be achieved over a very specific period. These goals are often defined by management teams to attract investors or by investors themselves. The metrics foreshadow a company that has grown to a size significantly larger than its current state.

As a result, you need to sell to the CEO of the company today as well as of the company in the future. This requires thoughtful discovery questions focused on the company as it is now, the company’s growth objectives, and its overall vision. You probably already know that a big part of the growth and metrics discussion involves acronyms like MAU, CAC, and LTV — but do you know what they are? If not, learn them now. You have to be able to talk the talk, because Millennial CEOs will be instantly skeptical if you prove ignorant about metrics important to them.

2. They are hack-obsessed.

Millennial CEOs — and, more broadly, innovative companies — are always looking for hacks. They want to find simple, inexpensive, or free ways to achieve their goals. Look no further than this site’s traffic for proof that I’m telling the truth. Being able to “hack” something that costs others a lot of money or time can be seen as a badge of honor. It’s fun to talk about while drinking monk fruit extract and eating chia pudding.

Take advantage of this trend. Know the hacks available to your prospects, and acknowledge them upfront — not when a CEO asks about it, but before he has the opportunity to bring it up. Asymmetry of information doesn’t exist anymore, so there’s no chance your Millennial CEO prospect won’t find a cheaper alternative when he kicks around with his team the idea of buying your products or services. It’s your responsibility to bring up a possible hack, acknowledge that it’s a real solution, even compliment it if it’s effective, and show CEOs how you’re different.

3. They might not ask the tough questions.

Kimberly Fries wrote in a June article in Forbes, “Millennials in general are non-confrontational, which can translate to even more problems when they’re leaders.” Now, do I necessarily agree with this? No. But it does raise an interesting point worth keeping in mind. If Fries is right, it stands to reason that sales calls might end more positively with your Millennial CEO prospects, leading you to have a false sense of hope about a deal closing. In fact, Gong.io’s data shows that “tire kickers use more positive language than buyers.”

So if a buyer seems a little too positive, that might be the right time to ask some tougher questions. Unsure where to start? Try something like, “What reservations do you have about moving to the next phase with our company?” Make sure you’re drawing out a CEO’s real objections, not just a few thoughts meant to end the conversation quickly. Don’t let a Millennial CEO averse to confrontation stop you from crossing the finish line.

Before heading into your next meeting with a Millennial buyer, remember these strategies that will help you nail your presentation and begin a new partnership.

The only worse than getting the competitor stall at the end of your presentation (something like, “Well, we’re looking at other quotes…” etc.) is not knowing how to handle it.

In my new book: Power Phone Scripts: 500 Word-For-Word Questions, Phrases, and Conversations to Open and Close More Sales, I teach you exactly what to say in the hundreds of selling situations you get into, including this competitor situation.

If you’re looking for a great holiday present to give yourself (or your team or company!), then grab your copy (or copies) here. The below questions have been taken right from this value book:

If after you’ve presented your product or service your prospect says they want or need to check on other offers/estimates/quotes, etc., then use or adapt any of the questions below to get your prospect to open up and possibly reveal what it might take for you to win the business:

Option #1:

“I understand, which way are you leaning right now?”

Option #2:

“What would it take for someone else to win your business?”

Option #3:

“What would it honestly take for you to choose us for this?”

Option #4:

“What don’t you see with our proposal that you see in others?”

Option #5:

“Are we in the running with what else you’ve seen out there?”

[If yes]

“What about us would take us out of the running?”

OR

“What would you need to see to choose us?”

AND

“What can I do right now to insure that we win your business?”

Option #6:

“Obviously you’re going to show this quote to your current vendor – if they match the price, will you just stick with them?”

[If yes]

“What can I do to prevent that?”

Option #7:

“How many times have you taken other quotes to your current vendor?”

[If they tell you]:

“And what do they usually do?”

[If they say they lower their price to keep the business]:

“How can we break that cycle and get you the right pricing from the start?”

Option #8:

“_________, let’s take your lowest bid you have right now and compare it – services to services – to what we’re offing you. If I find you’re getting a better deal, I’ll tell you so. If I can beat it, then I’ll let you know that as well. Either way – You’ll Win! Do you have that other quote nearby or should I wait while you grab it?”

Remember, competition will always exist, but you can beat it and win business if you’re prepared with proven and effective scripts like those above. Pick your favorite ones and tailor them to your particular sale.

Mike has been voted one of the most Influential Inside Sales Professionals for the past seven years by The American Association of Inside Sales Professionals, and won the 2017 Service Provider Award for training and development from the AA-ISP. Mike is hired by business owners to implement proven sales processes that help them immediately scale and grow Multi-Million Dollar Inside Sales Teams. For more information, you can visit his website: www.MrInsideSales.com

Much like an experienced pilot, a salesperson should focus on reducing a customer's risk of getting trapped in a tailspin or thrown off track from the turbulence of an overinformed buying environment. Customers have more resources, opinions, and people to manage than ever. This can suck buyers into a "decision vortex," where confusion, indecision, and the fear of making the wrong choice causes them to doubt their own judgment.

Buyers make decisions based on current information, which means that decision could be proven wrong tomorrow. This fact drives them toward a "minimize risk" approach to buying, and it makes it harder for salespeople to convince clients, especially when confronting them with change. As a result, salespeople have to start by instilling safety and confidence and accelerate buying by stripping away as much noise as possible.

In doing so, salespeople help buyers get out of their own way. While buyers who make the wrong decision in the short term may experience some painful consequences, making no decisions by lingering in the decision vortex is far more detrimental to their company and the corporate world in general.

Eliminate the Turbulence of the Buying Process

As the pilot in command of the customer experience, you can avoid sudden changes in buying altitude by incorporating the following strategies into your sales approach:

1. Treat the Buyer Like Your Co-Pilot

Every potential buyer is a less experienced pilot looking for advice on how to navigate the marketplace effectively and efficiently. A great salesperson helps buyers clearly identify the end destination, chart the best path to reach it, and track progress toward success.

Start by asking great questions that help you understand the customer's needs and overall strategic goal. Add any expert information you have that can help clarify. This process requires you to know your products in depth and be able to recommend different options and paths to success while helping customers avoid pitfalls. There are three tangible ways you can achieve this: offering examples or anecdotes from past clients; outlining several paths to success, the steps to each, and any benefits or drawbacks; and providing metrics, such as industry data, benchmarking tools, or tactful and anonymous comparisons to other clients.

2.Watch for Signs of Changing Buying Conditions, and Stay Connected

Always be looking for signs of hesitation or indecision that you can address. Salespeople often feel the pressure to make a sale, which makes it easier to focus on their goals rather than customers' goals. Instead, reframe your attention on customers' problems to foreground their particular experiences and help them find the clarity they need to say, "Yes."

Because the most common event that drives unexpected decision tailspins is a missed or bad meeting with a customer, you should know when meetings are and keep in touch with your contacts both before and after. Position yourself as a good listener and problem solver, and be prepared to discuss a range of concerns with clients, such as how to manage costs, grow and measure revenue, maximize asset use, and keep employees engaged. By providing objective talking points during these discussions with tools, insights, and information, you can become a trusted resource in case of a stall.

3. Make Emergency Diversion Plans

The worst that can happen to a sale is a mid-flight change of plans. While most people will contact you because of one initiative they're trying to accomplish, you should always look for ways to connect your product to more strategic goals. Plan for these spontaneous diversions by asking questions about other initiatives, systems, and goals at every opportunity, and look for ways to offer benefits your customer hasn't considered.

Some of the bestsellers are the ones that say, "Based on everything you're telling me right now, retooling that plant is so much smarter than investing in my software." That's how you get their business for a really long time versus closing the wrong deal today: by understanding the competing priorities of your customers and minimizing their risk while maximizing your offer's value. And potentially attaching that offer to multiple initiatives instead of just one is a big plus.

Your product or service is being evaluated against all the other initiatives the company and budget can pursue. The best salespeople are willing to investigate the landscape along with the customer and provide an honest assessment. They also help clients reduce individual risk by understanding that buying today isn't done in a vacuum by a single individual. There's no such thing as flying solo, so focus on winning long-term business by embracing the complex skies of the customer experience.

If your initiative comes out at the top, you just made a sale. If it comes in lower, find other ways you can help. But most importantly, stay useful to stay relevant.

Rick Cheatham leads the U.S. sales practice for BTS. He works with clients such as Google, JPMorgan, and General Electric to drive their sales efforts into the future. Rick leads a team of more than 20 consultants and conceptualizes many of the BTS solutions deployed in the U.S. He’s passionate about making work a place salespeople come to be successful, is totally pragmatic and experienced in getting results through being a purpose-driven leader, and has an uncommon balance between vision and how things really get done.

By Richard F. Libin, President, Automotive Profit Builders and author of just released book “Who Knew?” APB.cc, rlibin@apb.cc

I don’t understand.

Why does a business spend enormous sums of money to stay on the cutting edge of technology, marketing, and systems like CRMs etc., but then make it virtually impossible to do business with them?

There is a local car dealership that has a reputation for continuously spending money to keep their facilities updated with state-of-the-art equipment, from computers and software to the solar panels on the roof. Yet it is well known that it is very difficult buy anything from them. A friend of mine who was looking for a new truck told me that he was planning to buy to from this dealership. Knowing their reputation from others who tried to work with them and having had personal experience, I told my friend what he should expect.

My friend went anyway. He arrived, parked, looked at some of the trucks on the lot, and found one he wanted to look at, but no one was around to help him. While standing next to the truck, he used his cell phone to call the dealership. Before talking to anyone, a recording informed him that, “This call may be monitored for quality and training purposes.” When he reached the receptionist he asked her to send out a salesperson to help him. The receptionist told him, “We don’t do that here. You have to come into the showroom.” And then, she hung up. He called back and again asked the receptionist politely, to please send someone out so he didn’t have to walk all the way to the building and back. She hung up. He called back again, but this time, he told her what he thought about their service and the dealership, got in his truck and drove off to a different dealership where he bought a brand new truck. Who stopped the sale? This dealership has excellent products, facilities, location, technology, and marketing. Yet it’s difficult to buy a vehicle from them even when you fully intend to. Are they training their people or putting money into technology?

I don’t understand. This business has the technology to monitor calls for training purposes but it doesn’t listen or correct the problems. They consistently mistreat customers. Why would any business employ someone as the customers’ first point of contact who won’t do their job and find someone to help the customer?

Why do businesses invest thousands of dollars to get ahead in every aspect of technology – their infrastructure and business systems, their websites, marketing CRM, email and social media – to drive business, but fail to invest in educating their people on how to take care of customers? If a professional can’t provide the red carpet treatment what is the point of spending money on technology and marketing? Technology doesn’t sell cars; people do.

Part of the problem is that customer satisfaction is measured only on sales. Most businesses have no idea how many customers are actually lost and why. Too often it’s assumed that price was the issue, ye most customers are lost long before price is discussed. Without an accurate traffic count – a count of every lead or opportunity he business has – management will never know how many potential customers were lost because no one would help them.

Opportunities for sales present themselves every single day. Customers seek out businesses hoping to find expert guidance and help to first find the right product and second, to buy it at the right price. Unfortunately, most salespeople don’t care about the customer’s needs, wants, and desires in a product. Their approach communicates to customers that, “This is how we sell things. These are the items we want to push today. Do it our way or leave.” Salespeople – and management – need to adopt an attitude that tells customers “we do business your way.” No opportunity will ever come to fruition if a business doesn’t have people who are interested in and trained to work with and help customers buy cars.

Isn’t its time businesses start focusing on customers, first, and the bells and whistle second? After all, customers don’t just wander in randomly. They do their research and make a concerted effort to approach your business; they stand in front of a salesperson ready to buy. While technology may help bring customers in, it’s the people that keep them, and turn them into customers.

Richard F. Libin has written two acclaimed books that help people of all walks of life improve their sales skills, because as he says, “Everyone is a selling something.” His most recent book, Who Knew?, and his first book, “Who Stopped the Sale?” (www.whostoppedthesale.com), is now in its second edition. As president of APB-Automotive Profit Builders, Inc., a firm with more than 49 years experience working with both sales and service professionals, he helps his clientele, through personnel development and technology, to build customer satisfaction and maximize gross profits in their businesses. Mr. Libin can be reached at rlibin@apb.cc or 508-626-9200 or www.apb.cc.

Times are tough – but as an old adage reminds us, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” In business, a good salesperson knows how to ride economic waves. They know exactly how to take a group of leads and build them into a loyal base of customers and clientele who return time and again for products and services; that bring in referrals; and who increase the potential to close a sale by as much as 500%.

A Positive Mindset Generates Positive Actions

Most salespeople are driven by commissions. So imagine if they viewed every person they encountered as a prospective client? Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines client as “a person who pays a professional person or organization for products and services, a person who engages the professional advice or services of another, and one that is under the protection of another.” If salespeople viewed every person they met as a client – someone under their care who seeks professional advice and products or services – the potential for sales would increase dramatically. This seemingly simple change in mindset and attitudes makes a world of difference in sales, commissions, and profits.

Creating a mindset that perceives every individual who comes into the showroom as a client is one of the first steps in driving sales and increasing commissions and profits. However, it is a proven fact that when a client comes into a business and specifically asks for a particular salesperson, the closing percentage skyrockets. To achieve this, salespeople must know how to prospect.

Prospecting – Reviving A Lost Art

Prospecting has three primary results: an appointment for an immediate sale; referrals to new prospects actively looking to buy, and creating future prospects. Successful prospectors know that while there are many approaches, the best methods are in-person (personal), telephone, and written communication. Yet today, most salespeople don’t have the first idea about how to prospect successfully.

This is where managers, as the coaches and leaders come in. The first step is to focus the team on the overall goal – changing the variables they control, beginning with driving traffic – and then to change their mindset. Develop a game plan and create opportunities for the team to practice, play, and win. It’s like Vince Lombardi says, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

The importance of team. Think of a professional football team. They practice for hours at least five days a week to play a single, one-hour game. The team who wins is not always the biggest, fastest, or best, but the one who goes in with a well-rehearsed game plan and then executes it. Practice, Play, and Win.

Change the mindset. Teach the team to prospect – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and yes even in your sleep. Take them out onto the field and train them. Then be sure the team views each individual who enters the showroom as a customer with the ability and intent to purchase.

Assign a dollar value to each customer. Every potential customer who comes to the business has the power to increase your paycheck along with the company’s gross.

Salespeople cultivate customers through prospecting and referrals; they convert customers into clients by establishing and maintaining a relationship that allows them to build a sense of trust. It’s this trust that allows clients to rely on the salesperson for advice, and allows the salesperson to secure more referrals and sales. We have seen over and over again, that when sales managers make the commitment to let APB helps them train their teams, the pay back is tangible and exponential.

The bottom line is, prospect, prospect, prospect – every single day, not just when the business is bad or down. Prospecting needs to become an automatic reflex, like breathing, an act that happens successfully and continuously. With a positive mindset, a view toward the future, and the right training, salespeople will understand the need and will continue to prospect for opportunities and loyal clientele, regardless of how business is doing.

Richard F. Libin has written two acclaimed books that help people of all walks of life improve their sales skills, because as he says, “Everyone is a selling something.” His most recent book, Who Knew?, and his first book, “Who Stopped the Sale?” (www.whostoppedthesale.com), is now in its second edition. As president of APB-Automotive Profit Builders, Inc., a firm with more than 49 years experience working with both sales and service professionals, he helps his clientele, through personnel development and technology, to build customer satisfaction and maximize gross profits in their businesses. Mr. Libin can be reached at rlibin@apb.cc or 508-626-9200 or www.apb.cc.